Installing the software
__TOC__ How much hard drive space does the software take on my computer? The software itself will take less than 50 MB of hard drive space on your computer. The different projects that run on the World Community Grid, however, have different system requirements for running on your computer. I have been a member for a while but need to re-install the software because I have a new computer. How do I do that? For existing members, please sign in with your existing member name and password on to the website and then click the download now button on the home page. I'm having trouble downloading the software Perhaps your Internet Explorer is configured to block installing downloads. Within Internet Explorer, click on Tools → Internet Options → Security → Custom Level → Downloads. Check to see that File downloads are enabled. There might be other settings which need to be enabled such as the ability to execute Javascript. Please also check to see if your network requires a proxy, click here for Proxy FAQs. If I re-install the software, will the work that I am doing be lost forever? No. When the BOINC version of our software is reinstalled it will stop the current workunit(s) that your computer is processing and install the new version of the BOINC software and continue to process the same workunit(s). Is there an easy way to install the grid agent to multiple devices or across a network? We have created a presentation and mass install document that describes some of the things you need to consider and steps to follow if you wish to perform a mass installation of the World Community Grid - BOINC Agent onto many machines. Does World Community Grid Software run on Windows 95? Windows 95 is no longer supported by Microsoft, therefore we do not offer an installer for that platform. Does World Community Grid software run on Windows 98? Effective August 1, 2008, the World Community Grid technical staff will no longer provide support for Windows 98. We are taking this action because less than 0.03% of all computers on World Community Grid are running on Windows 98 and we feel that our resources need to be focused on supporting existing and new research projects. If you are running Windows 98 as your operating system, you will still be able to run World Community Grid and contribute to humanitarian research. However, if you have a problem, you should not expect to receive a response to your Windows 98 question from the "Contact Us" mailbox. Assistance in the forums may be available as long as other members continue to respond to Windows 98 questions. All of the current research projects were tested for Windows 98. Therefore Windows 98 users should be able to continue to run on that platform depending on their specific configuration of software. This means that Windows 98 users should be able to participate in World Community Grid research for at least one more year. Going forward, none of the new research projects will be certified for Windows 98. How do I uninstall the World Community Grid Software? Right click on the World Community Grid icon in the lower right corner of your screen and select "Exit". This will stop the agent. Then use your Add/Remove programs feature to remove the World Community Grid software. What is the BOINC Client? The BOINC client is a command line application that runs on Linux. This application contains the functions necessary to connect your Linux computer to World Community Grid. These functions include the following: * Attach your computer to World Community Grid (use: www.worldcommunitygrid.org) * Download work from the World Community Grid servers * Return completed results to the World Community Grid servers * Run the science application according to the preferences of the member What is the BOINC Manager? The BOINC Manager is a graphic user interface that provides the ability to control a BOINC client and all of its functions. The manager can connect to BOINC clients running on the same or different computers. There is a version of the BOINC manager available for both Linux and Windows. This means that you can run the BOINC manager on your windows computer and connect to BOINC clients running on your Linux servers. Much more information about the BOINC manager is available at: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/manager.php Why does World Community Grid require version 5.4 or higher of the BOINC client? World Community Grid requires version 5.4 of the BOINC client because we have configured the system to communicate with the BOINC client over SSL. Only version 5.4 and higher of the BOINC client are able to utilize SSL. SSL is a technology that encrypts all communication between the client and the server. This provides greater security for our members. If you attempt to use an older version of the BOINC client, then you will see an error in the BOINC client log file. May I choose my member name? Yes. You may choose any member name that is not already in use. You can change your member name at any time (but, of course, only to another member name that is not in use). If you do change your member name, your previous member name will become available to other members. I want to contribute to one of World Community Grid's research projects. How do I register for a particular research project and start contributing? Members only need to register and attach once to World Community Grid in order to contribute to any, or all, of our research projects. In order to contribute, please take the following steps: # Register with World Community Grid. # Select which of our research projects you wish to contribute to: ## The registration process gives you a list of research projects to choose from. ## If you are already registered, you may change which projects you contribute to on your My Projects page. # If you do not already have BOINC installed download and install the software # If you already have a version of BOINC installed more recent than version 5.4, then you may participate in World Community Grid using your existing BOINC software. Just attach to World Community Grid using the url: www.worldcommunitygrid.org and using the member name and password you created in step 1 above. Category:FAQ